Intermediate Philosophy Part 2: The Crisis of Meaning

This course takes students into the heart of early 20th-century philosophy, where the certainties of Enlightenment reason give way to new modes of thinking: through the body, through freedom, through negation, and through lived experience. From Nietzsche’s cry of nihilism to Beauvoir’s existential ethics, we follow a philosophical drama that unfolds in response to crisis - of meaning, of identity, of existence itself. Along the way, we encounter some of the most provocative and original thinkers of the modern age: Nietzsche, Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre and Merleau-Ponty.

This course is for students who have studied some philosophy, ideally at the beginner or intermediate level, and are ready to engage with complex texts and challenging ideas. It is particularly suited to those interested in modern Continental philosophy, the history of 20th-century thought, or the existential dimension of human life.

The course begins with Nietzsche’s concept of nihilism and follows its unfolding across key 20th-century thinkers. We trace how existentialism and phenomenology emerge in response to this crisis of meaning - through themes

like freedom, intentionality, Being, and ambiguity. We explore how Sartre to Beauvoir attempt to rethink ethics and existence without recourse to fixed foundations. Finally, we turn to the origins of French Structuralism to understand the shift from subject to system in late modern thought.

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

· Identify and explain major concepts in existentialist and phenomenological philosophy.

· Compare and contrast different responses to nihilism and the limits of reason.

· Analyse primary texts by Nietzsche, Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre, Beauvoir, and others.

· Reflect on the philosophical significance of the body, freedom, and ambiguity.

· Understand the transition from existentialism to structuralism in 20th-century thought.